In a quiet moment the other day I got to thinking about the sudden turn around in young Massa's career. He's gone from that Brazillian guy who wrecks Saubers to Ferrari's potential next world champion in the space of 12 months.
Just about everybody, both on this forum and in the press, is including Massa in the fight with Alonso and Raikkonen for the WDC. Now I know Massa won his first races last year and had some very good drives where he beat Schumi but so did Barrichello and nobody ever talked about Barrichello as a contender for the WDC.
I mean, 12 months ago everybody, and that includes myself, were questioning Ferrari's decision to give the guy a drive and were saying things like 'he's only a one year stop-gap' etc. The consensus was basically that Jean Todt was insane and was only giving Massa the drive because he wanted to do his son a favour.
At the end of last season there was talk of Massa having the edge over Raikkonen in the early stages of the season but the Finn would destroy the Brazilian once he got to grips with the team and car. Now, Kimi's going to have to beat Alonso and Massa to win the title.
I don't get it. Massa had a good season in a car that was as fast, if not faster, than any on the grid. He won his maiden race but he also made plenty of mistakes. Remember Bahrain and Monaco?
So tell me. What makes people think that Massa has what it takes to beat a defending double world champion and arguably the fastest guy on the grid?